Expertise

Bio

Scott Snyder is senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he had served as an adjunct fellow from 2008 to 2011. Snyder's program examines South Korea's efforts to contribute on the international stage; its potential influence and contributions as a middle power in East Asia; and the peninsular, regional, and global implications of North Korean instability. Snyder is also the co-editor of North Korea in Transition: Politics, Economy, and Society (Rowman and Littlefield, October 2012), and the editor of Global Korea: South Korea's Contributions to International Security (Council on Foreign Relations, October 2012) and The U.S.-South Korea Alliance: Meeting New Security Challenges (Lynne Rienner Publishers, March 2012). He served as the project director for CFR's Independent Task Force on policy toward the Korean Peninsula. He currently writes for the blog, "Asia Unbound."

Prior to joining CFR, Snyder was a senior associate in the international relations program of The Asia Foundation, where he founded and directed the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy and served as The Asia Foundation's representative in Korea (2000-2004). He was also a senior associate at Pacific Forum CSIS. Mr. Snyder has worked as an Asia specialist in the research and studies program of the U.S. Institute of Peace and as acting director of Asia Society's contemporary affairs program. He was a Pantech visiting fellow at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center during 2005-06, and received an Abe fellowship, administered by the Social Sciences Research Council, in 1998-99.

Snyder has authored numerous book chapters on aspects of Korean politics and foreign policy and Asian regionalism and is the author of China's Rise and the Two Koreas: Politics, Economics, Security (2009), Paved With Good Intentions: The NGO Experience in North Korea (co-editor, 2003), and Negotiating on the Edge: North Korean Negotiating Behavior (1999). He has provided advice to NGOs and humanitarian organizations active in North Korea and serves on the advisory council of the National Committee on North Korea and Global Resource Services.

Snyder received a BA from Rice University and an MA from the regional studies East Asia program at Harvard University and was a Thomas G. Watson fellow at Yonsei University in South Korea.

The U.S.-ROK Alliance: Lynchpin for Managing Stability in the Asia-Pacific

The U.S.-ROK alliance has succeeded beyond expectation in its evolution from a security-focused, military-dominated relationship dedicated to deterring North Korea to a multifaceted, comprehensive alliance. The relationship now faces two new challenges that require careful coordination and effective management: shifts in the geopolitical environment resulting from China’s rising power and South Korea’s evolving conception of itself as a middle power. U.S. rebalancing policy prioritizes Asia, but assumes levels of continuity in the security situation on the Korean peninsula that are not guaranteed. Effective management of these issues will require more time and political attention, and will be critical to maintaining a robust alliance amidst geopolitical uncertainly. With the Project on the U.S.-ROK Alliance, CFR’s Program on U.S.-Korea policy considers the impact of geopolitical shifts in relative influence of the United States and China on how to coordinate policy toward North Korea; the challenging regional security dilemmas South Korea faces as a result of rising nationalism in both China and Japan; the impact of South Korea’s middle power role for U.S.-ROK cooperation; and the potential strategic and policy implications of regional developments, including China’s rise and U.S. rebalancing policy, for South Korea. Through study group and roundtable meetings, articles, and blog posts on Asia Unbound, this project aims to identify issues, opportunities, and challenges in the U.S.-ROK alliance.

This project is made possible through the support of the Korea Foundation and the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Middle Power Korea: Contributions to the Global Agenda

South Korea has used its “hosting power” in recent years as a stepping stone for its ambitious and constructive efforts to contribute substantively on the international stage. While its hosting of international gatherings has revealed clear constraints on South Korea’s ability to shape the international agenda or to serve as an intermediary on conflicts involving larger powers, these roles have also provided South Korea with valuable experience on the international stage on niche issues on which the country appears poised to make a difference. Middle Power Korea: Contributions to the Global Agenda aims to examine South Korea’s role as a middle power, its contributions and ability to influence international institutions, and its prospects for cooperation with the United States. This forthcoming book focuses on four areas in which South Korea has expanded its capabilities, made efforts to influence the global agenda, and shown potential to play a greater role: international development, financial stability, nuclear governance, and green growth.

This project is made possible through the support of the Korea Foundation.

South Korea has emerged as a major contributor to international security, participating in a wide range of activities far from the Korean peninsula. CFR scholars outline several steps that will ensure that South Korea can sustain this broadened role.

Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea Studies and director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy, and Woo Jung-yeop, research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, suggest that Washington should support the Seoul Process under NAPCI and Seoul should support the U.S. rebalance, given the two allies' overlapping goals of promoting cooperation and strengthening respect for international norms in Asia.

South Korea and the United States have reached an impasse in bilateral talks on nuclear cooperation. Senior Fellow Scott Snyder argues that the United States should extend the current agreement and make a follow-on agreement contingent on the results of an ongoing study on feasibility and proliferation risks of South Korea's right to enrich and reprocess U.S.-origin nuclear fuels.

Xi Jinping's arrival in Seoul today marks the first time a Chinese leader has visited South Korea ahead of Beijing's traditional ally North Korea. Is this a slap on the wrist for Pyongyang, or a more serious shift in Asia-Pacific relations?

New strategic challenges that have emerged in recent months influence China's relations with both Koreas into the new year. While regional developments, especially North Korean domestic politics, may lead to a deepening convergence of aims among the United States, South Korea, and China, there remains a stark difference over preferred outcomes. CFR's Scott Snyder and See-won Byun of George Washington University explain the defense and economic developments over the past year and look at prospects for 2014 China-Korea relations.

Asked by Jonathan Crouse, from Coastal Carolina University December 16, 2013

North Korea's capability to threaten the United States comes in two forms:

The possibility that North Korean-origin fissile material could be sent to the United States, either through sale to terrorist groups or by delivering a nuclear device to a U.S. harbor by boat, or;

The ability to threaten U.S. interests abroad, including through renewed conflict on the Korean peninsula, where 28,000 U.S. forces are stationed with the mission of defending South Korea from North Korean aggression.

Chinese officials see stability on the Korean peninsula under the Korean Armistice as a component that has enabled China's growth for over three decades. Despite a growing difference between the economic systems of China and North Korea, China's communist party leadership feels an affinity with North Korea because its government, like China's, pursues one-party leadership under a socialist banner.

Escalating tensions on the peninsula due to North Korea's recent provocations motivate Presidents Xi Jinping and Park Geun-hye to closely coordinate policies toward the North. However, Beijing's shifty stance on sanctions, an increase in Sino-DPRK economic exchanges, and the obstacles to China-South Korea-Japan trilateral cooperation impede North Korea policy alignment between Beijing and Seoul. Still, the willingness of both leaders to improve bilateral relations offers a silver lining, explain CFR's Scott Snyder and See-won Byun of George Washington University.

In their first White House meeting on Tuesday, Presidents Obama and Park will likely seek to reassert the long-standing security and economic relationship between the United States and South Korea, says CFR's Scott Snyder.

North Korea's ratcheting up of tensions requires South Korean and U.S. military forces in Korea to be prepared to defend against North Korean military incursions. Resumption of diplomacy will only be possible when North Korea signals it is ready to resume dialogue and all parties agree on an agenda that includes both tension-reduction and denuclearization.

"The complex evolution of the Obama administration's policy toward North Korea during its first term and the characteristics of President Obama's world view together provide a framework for considering what the administration is likely to do in a second term," says Scott A. Snyder.

On the upcoming South Korean presidential election, Scott A. Snyder says the determining vote will be "South Korea's bulging forties cohort" that played a critical role in South Korea's transition from authoritiarianism to democracy and also has the greatest stake in its economic stability.

Despite an ongoing threat from North Korea, South Korea has emerged as a producer rather than a consumer of international security goods. As a newly elected member of the UN Security Council, South Korea has the opportunity to use these investments as a "middle power" and responsible leader in the international community, says Scott A. Snyder.

South Korea has emerged as a major contributor to international security, participating in a wide range of activities far from the Korean peninsula. CFR scholars outline several steps that will ensure that South Korea can sustain this broadened role.

CFR Events

Media Conference Call

North Korean Cyberattack on Sony Pictures

Speakers:

Adam Segal, Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies and Director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program, Council on Foreign Relations, Scott A. Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

Presider:

Global Korea

Speakers:

Scott A. Snyder, Council on Foreign Relations, Balbina Y. Hwang, Visiting Professor, Georgetown University, Terence Roehrig, Professor in National Security Affairs and the Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Group, U.S. Naval War College

Global Korea

Speakers:

Scott A. Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy, Council on Foreign Relations, Balbina Y. Hwang, Visiting Professor, Georgetown University, Terence Roehrig, Professor of National Security Affairs and the Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Group, U.S. Naval War College